Updated: 09/14/00

Common questions and problems

We will update this section with the most common support issues. This section is directed toward SI Mechanical 5.13/5.14/5.2 but some of the issues can be applied to earlier versions. If you are looking here to solve a problem and can't find an answer, please call, fax, or emal us.

When I use the SI Mechanical 5.2 SETUP command and work in paper space, it won't set the limits for me. What is wrong?
AutoCAD 2000 has some new settings that must be turned off for paper space limits to work. Use the AutoCAD CONFIG command and go to the "Display" tab. In the "Layout elements" group, turn off the "Display margins" and "Display paper background" check boxes.

I upgraded to the latest version of SI Mechanical and it no longer loads automatically. How can I make it do so?
The latest version of SI Mechanical requires that you load it when needed by picking the SI Mechanical icon or using the pull-down menu. You can make it load automatically by using the acad.lsp file. Put it in your SI Mechanical Si-m5.2 directory.

SI Mechanical runs very slow sometimes. What is wrong?
You probably have your drawings on a Windows NT network server. You must change your "start in" directory to be on your local drive. Right click on the AutoCAD icon and go to "Properties" to make the change. Start AutoCAD using the icon and then open up any drawing. If your drawings are located on an NT server and you start AutoCAD by picking them in Explorer, SI Mechanical will run slow.

Can I use SI Mechanical 5.14 with Mechanical Desktop 2.0 and 2.01?
Yes you can. SI Mechanical can be loaded according to the Custom Configuration section in Chapter 2 of your SI Mechanical manual. You can run all SI Mechanical commands by typing in the command name. Do not use the standard DPMODMNU command with the Mechanical Desktop 2.0 menu. It will not work right. There is a replacement DPMODMNU available. If you already used the standard DPMODMNU command, switch back to the original Mechanical Desktop menu. If you purchased SI Mechanical 5.14 after 06/07/98, check Disk 1 that came with the program and see new.txt. Otherwise download new.zip which contains new.txt. Follow the instructions in new.txt in order to utilize the SI Mechanical toolbar and pull down menus with Mechanical Desktop 2.0.

I can't load SI Mechanical. What's wrong?
This is the most common question we get after SI Mechanical is installed. If you are using SI Mechanical 5.13, you can usually start it using the SI Mechanical program icon. Do this by using the Windows taskbar to select Start:Programs:SI Mechanical. You can do the same thing with 5.14 but you will have to manually switch to the si-mech.mnu menu file the first time you start it. In other cases where you want to start AutoCAD using the AutoCAD or MCAD icon, you must make sure that the SI Mechanical path is the first item in your AutoCAD support path. You can use the preferences command to set this. Verify that SI Mechanical is installed where you specified in the support path. If you get the message: Can't open "si-mech.mnl" for input", then your support path is still wrong. If you get the message: Unable to execute "si-mech.arx", you might be using incompatible versions of AutoCAD and SI Mechanical. If you have two versions of SI Mechanical installed on your system, make sure AutoCAD is finding the right one. You can test this at the AutoCAD Command: line by entering (findfile "si-mech.arx"). AutoCAD will try to load the first version it finds.

SI Mechanical starts to load but I get the message - error: LOAD failed. What's wrong?
There are several possible reasons. There could be a missing file, but this is rare. If the error message occurs immediately after displaying - Can't open "C:\SI-M514\DP_LIB\si-mech.tmp" for input, then the problem is caused by a combination of two things. Use the AutoCAD preferences command to check the Support File Search Path. Make sure that the dp_lib directory is not being searched. AutoCAD R14 has a bug that prevents hidden files from being located if they are in one of the search path directories. Some users put the dp_lib directory on the search path. It is not required for 5.13 or 5.14 but only causes problems in 5.14 and AutoCAD R14.

SI Mechanical starts to load but I get the message - error: ARXLOAD failed. What's wrong?
If the error message occurs immediately after displaying - Unable to execute "si-mech.arx", then either AutoCAD can't find the requested file or you are using an incompatible version of AutoCAD. It is a good idea to put the SI Mechanical directory at the beginning of the Support File Search Path so that AutoCAD can always find SI Mechanical.

I want to have my name and company logo in all title block. How do I do it?
SI Mechanical constructs formats on the fly. The ASME standard requires a certain size title block depending on the format size. Depending on which formats you use, you will have to change one or more title blocks. Run setup in a drawing and then use the block ? * command to list out the blocks. Wblock the one that begins with ASM-T into the SI Mechanicl dp_lib directory. Bring up this drawing in AutoCAD and make any changes that you want. The setup command will now use this title block.

I already have a custom D-size format. How do I use it with the SI Mechanical setup command?
This can be a simple or complex task depending on what you want the custom format to look like. The preferred method is to modify the SI Mechanical title blocks. However, if you already have your format drawings made up and insist on using them, you can. If it isn't exactly to standard size, it will work but the revision blocks and parts list might come in out of position. In either case you can run the SI Mechanical setup command to select the format the you want. Pick the Add/Edit button under the Size group in the Setup options dialogue box. You can then note the name of the size of the format. The name for a D-size format might be "ASM0000D". Copy your format into the SI Mechanical dp_lib directory using this format name. That will be the format that the program uses when the D-size is required.

The parts list runs off the top of the drawing format and stops. What can I do?
In order for SI Mechanical to deal with multiple drawing sheets in a single file, a parts list must be contained within a defined format. A simple solution would be to put the parts list on a larger format. The parts list does not have to be on the same sheet as the balloons. You can also trick SI Mechanical into seeing a larger size for the current format. Use the DPVAR command to set the DBWRITE variable to 1. Use the SYMCHG command on the format and use the Add/Edit... button to modify the size. Set the Y_LIM field to a larger value. Run the APTLST command to generate the parts list. The parts list can be manually rearranged.

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